6,000 taka of profit on 40 shotok of wheat, and more land this season

Wheat is not a traditional crop in Chattogram and the weather does not fully suit it, but this farmer at Islampur village in Datmara union, Fatikchhari, is cutting maize area and putting the land into wheat. He grew wheat on 40 shotok last year, cleared about 6,000 taka, and on that evidence is taking more land this season. Two other growers in the same report made similar small gains: one in Rangunia got 6 maund from 30 shotok and is doubling to 60, another in Banshkhali made 10,000 to 12,000 taka. Three varieties - BARI-33, BWMRI-1 and BWMRI-2 - are sown in mid-November and yield 4 to 5 tonnes a hectare, and some of them tolerate the salt water along the Karnaphuli and Halda that had been cutting yields of other crops. The district agriculture office is pushing the switch with free seed and fertiliser: Fatikchhari's wheat area is going from 25 hectares to 40, and the district target this rabi season is 285 tonnes on 95 hectares, against a country that imports about 85 percent of the wheat it uses.